Rise in repeat food bank users reflects Alberta's high cost of living

Jason van Rassel, Calgary Herald09.02.2014

Lori McRitchie, executive director of the Airdrie Food Bank, said the number of clients “has never been higher.”David Moll

Calgary,Alberta; Aug 31, 2014 -- Lori McRitchie, executive director of the Airdrie Food Bank, is pictured in the newly built facility that will support Airdrie and surrounding area. ({David Moll}/Calgary Herald) For Calgary story by { Jason van Rassel}David Moll

Calgary,Alberta; Aug 31, 2014 -- Lori McRitchie, executive director of the Airdrie Food Bank, is pictured in the newly built facility that will support Airdrie and surrounding area. ({David Moll}/Calgary Herald) For Calgary story by { Jason van Rassel}David Moll

Calgary,Alberta; Aug 31, 2014 -- Lori McRitchie, executive director of the Airdrie Food Bank, is pictured in the newly built facility that will support Airdrie and surrounding area. ({David Moll}/Calgary Herald) For Calgary story by { Jason van Rassel}David Moll

Alberta’s minimum wage went up this week, but social service agencies in the Calgary region say they’re seeing more evidence working families are having trouble making ends meet.

Calgary’s main food bank and others around the city are reporting increased use over last year, citing the region’s low vacancy rate and resulting high rents as one of the main drivers of the trend.

“There are a lot of people who ask me, ‘We still need food banks in Alberta?’ and they’re quite astonished,” said Stephanie Rigby, executive director of Alberta Food Banks, which represents 61 member organizations across the province.“There is maybe a false sense everything is OK in Alberta.”

In June and July, the Calgary Food Bank distributed an average of 475 hampers daily — a 10 per cent increase over the same time last year, spokeswoman Shawna Ogston said.

The Calgary Food Bank distributed seven million kilograms to 130,000 individuals and families last year.

Although those numbers point to a significant number of people in need, Ogston said past trends indicated 80 per cent of clients visited the food bank only once over a 12-month period.

“That meant that there was some kind of crisis and they just needed to get over the hump,” she said.

But over the past year, there are signs that people’s troubles are becoming more acute and harder to manage: more clients are visiting the food bank multiple times instead of just once, Ogston said.

In Airdrie, food bank executive director Laura McRitchie said the number of clients “has never been higher.”

In the first three months of 2014, the Airdrie Food Bank distributed 353 hampers, averaging 27 a week. That pace is ahead of last year, when the food bank gave out an average of 25 a week.

The Airdrie food bank is also on pace to give out more “bread and extras” packages this year, distributing 1,167 in the first three months of 2014, compared to 3,720 in all of 2013.

Neither organization could provide a definitive reason for the increases, but both said the higher numbers are an unfortunate byproduct of Alberta’s strong economy.

Calgary attracts approximately 20,000 newcomers annually — but the new arrivals often grapple with the high cost of living, fuelled in part by a lack of affordable housing.

“A lot of small families are coming to Alberta and realizing how expensive it is,” Ogston said.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s April 2014 market survey pegged Calgary’s residential vacancy rate as the lowest in the country, at 1.4 per cent. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $1,267.

But Ogston and the Airdrie Food Bank’s McRitchie added the high rents are only part of the equation: they said there’s a significant gulf between what people need to live on and Alberta’s minimum wage, which rose Tuesday to $10.20 an hour from $9.95.

Statistics Canada data released by Public Interest Alberta on Monday showed 20 per cent of the province’s workforce makes less than $15 an hour. The rate is the same in Calgary, where 136,400 of 662,800 workers make less than $15 hourly.

“There are jobs out there (and) minimum wage going up will have a slight impact, but when you have to pay $1,200 a month for a basic apartment, you have to make $17 to $20 an hour,” McRitchie said.

McRitchie’s rough reckoning is backed up by Vibrant Communities Calgary, a local non-profit organization that recently calculated an hourly wage of $17.29 in order for someone to meet their basic needs.

But groups such as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business have argued raising the minimum wage beyond inflationary increases would hurt small- to medium-sized businesses and force them to lay off workers or reduce their hours.

But incremental increases beyond the current minimum wage are possible, said Savoia, pointing to 54 local employers who have joined Vibrant Communities Calgary’s Living Wage Leaders program by agreeing to pay the $17.29 standard.

“Let’s have the conversation: could you get there over two, three or four years?” he said.

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